This presentation will describe how the current ‘metadata poor' state of data is in the way of modernization and a root cause of data wrangling, highlight the needs for upgrading data into ‘digital knowledge', and outline a vision for FAIR Open Data APIs (web services) to provide access to applications and foster machine intelligence. 

As DDI is expected to play a fundamental role in making this a reality, in particular DDI-CDI as one of the building blocks of the Core Data Interoperability Framework (CDIF) being developed under the umbrella of CODATA, we will discuss the needs for and importance of standard API specifications for the various DDI flavors. 

We will alongside introduce concepts such asf API-First design practices and the API Lifecycle, outline how applications and collaborative environments such Postman facilitate API development, and outline the mission and objectives of the recently launched Open Data and Research Intelligence program under the umbrella of our Open Technologies initiative, paving the way for global collaboration and the establishment of interoperable data driven infrastructures.